Yakov Pavlov

Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov (4 October 1917-29 September 1981) was a Sergeant in the Soviet Red Army who led the defense of "Pavlov's House" during the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942, becoming a "Hero of the Soviet Union" for his bravery.

Biography
Yakov Pavlov was born on 4 October 1917 in Krestovaya, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union to a family of peasants, and he joined the Red Army in 1938. Pavlov commanded a machine gun, an artillery, and a recon unit during World War II, and his platoon captured a damaged building in the city of Stalingrad (Volgograd, Russia) in the winter of 1942 during the fight against the Axis Powers for the city. Pavlov and his platoon defended the house for 60 days, one of the longest defensive battles of the war (by comparison, France had taken 45 days to overrun, and the Netherlands, just a week), and his forces were later relieved by reinforcements. The Germans lost more men attempting to take Pavlov's House than they did during their capture of the city of Paris on 4 June 1940, and Pavlov was awarded numerous medals for his defense of the house. After the war, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and he was thrice elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR. Pavlov died in 1981 at the age of 63 and died in Novgorod.